TOUGH NEWS.

Town Takes Action After Boy Dies In Sinkhole

The incident was a freakish nightmare: 7-year-old Kwame Sharif was playing out on a lawn on April 24 when the ground beneath his feet gave way, and he fell into the sinkhole and suffocated.

Now Kwame's neighbors in North Brunswick, N.J., are trying to make sure such a deadly accident never happens again.

Investigators think the sinkhole was caused by two tree stumps that had been buried beneath the ground during construction in the 1970s. The stumps apparently rotted, creating space for water to come in and soften the ground. When Kwame stepped on a weak spot in the soil, an 8-foot-deep hole opened up.

With the backing of the community, Mayor Paul Matacera is calling on New Jersey Gov. Jim Florio to review how the area was developed in an attempt to determine whether any other such sinkholes exist.